This great river’s geography is extraordinary — and it has a history to match. “The Nile,” by Martha Holmes, Gavin Maxwell and Tim Scoones of the BBC, winds its way through Egyptian lore and culture — and concludes with the Victorian explorations for the Nile’s source deep in the heart of Africa.

A journey through time

Along the Nile’s west bank lies Medinet Habu, a sprawling temple complex paying homage to Ramses III — one of ancient Egypt’s last great rulers.

Sandstone walls decorated with images of the pharaoh crushing his enemies remain unchanged after thousands of years, defying the modernization of the world around them.

Ramses III and his fellow Egyptians followed a complex mythology to explain the Nile’s life-sustaining ebb and flow, accepting its annual flood as a supernatural blessing.

Accordingly, a picture in the tomb of Horemheb pays tribute to Isis, the mythical sister-wife of the Osiris, king of the underworld. Her tears are said to nourish the waters of the Nile, helping them to rise and bestow prosperity on the people.

Carrying ancient traditions into the present, the Dinka — the nomadic inhabitants of southern Sudan — adjust their lives according to the river's annual patterns.

During the dry season, they crowd their families and cattle tightly along the edges of the river channels and marshes, as diminishing grass supplies force them into one of the greatest concentrations of large mammals in the world.

Fortunately, the Nile’s dry period gives way to a lush wet season. In the Blue Nile Gorge — known as Africa’s Grand Canyon — only a few weeks of heavy rain create spectacular waterfalls that cascade over the tiered cliffs of Ethiopia.

In that colossal ravine, the small streams and rivers that form a huge network of waterways across the Ethiopian highlands converge and disappear into the belly of the mountains.

In this enchanted place, nature and legend once again meet. Treacherous rapids, murky swamps, and wild animals limited the understanding of this captivating river for thousands of years, keeping its source a secret. In fact, the Nile was not fully navigated — and its source not known — until the mid-19th century.

In “Nile,” the authors provide a unique blend of history, maps and photography, touching on the geography, explorations and modernization of the Nile.

The book offers a beautiful portrait of one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, revealing the striking splendor and mystery of a river deeply intertwined with African culture.

Martha Holmes, Gavin Maxwell and Tim Scoones